原文章由 rikaG 於 08-8-14 21:47 發表
Hi Everyone, thanks for your in-puts!
We are going o buy a house....I guess it is a good time to buy, right?
I have spent a summer at Sonoma last year, we had rent a house there. I found all hanging w ...
rikaG,
Everybody says that it's a good time to buy a house now. I and my hubby are also looking for a house for a while but have not found one we really like yet. Other than the price of the house, the policies of the bank on mortgage had changed recently. In early June, most of the banks just required for 10% down payment and minimum cash of 6 month of payment in bank. However, the policy changed for most of the banks, now you have to put down at least 20% for down payment even though you have a high credit score.
For earthquake, I think that there's higher risk in anywhere in SF Bay Area but possibly higher in SF and the southern part. Most of the houses built here are earthquake-proved. Also, I will not buy any one next to the cliff, seashore or where with the higher possibility of landslides. Old house is nice for the design such as high ceiling, spacious interior but you may need to check if the infrastructure and the construction need to be remodelled. For example, if the pipes need to be changed, if the roof has to be replaced, how old the stoves in the kitchen are, how about the painting, staircases, wires, phoneline, etc. If all these have to be replaced, it can come up to another $300-400k easy.
Forget to reply, for good yum cha places, I think that Koi Palace in Daly City that HappyMatt mentioned is pretty good. There are also some good places in San Francisco, Milbrae and Milpitas, depends on what kind of food quality and price you want. Good food can be pricey in here. For good Taiwanese and Vietnamese food, you may need to drive to Cupertino or San Jose. I have once been to Sonoma for a wedding dinner, the place was so romantic but it's really expensive.
When you would come for good? Contact me and see if we can meet and maybe we can coordinate to have a gathering with the other mommies here.
花旗太太生活在花旗國,留意時差,你問我未必即時答到。